Best (lowest risk) anemone for sps tank?

[mv123]

Hi all,

I am interested in adding an anemone to my mainly sps tank. I know all of them have some risk, but I am willing to take it for a nice nem and clown pair. Tank is a 90g, so I can make room on one side of it for the anemone if I can get it to stay there, away form any sps.

On a side note I am not new to anemones, had a carpet and rbta in my old tank for 3+ years before Sandy. So I'm fairly confident that I can keep most of the common ones. Tank is mature, stable, good lighting and flow, etc.

I have been thinking rbta or carpet again, but not sure if there are better choices, maybe a gig? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[marc price]

My vote is for, 1) H. malu 2), S. haddoni carpet, it'll stay in the sand and pose little risk to your corals, your fish on the other hand... 3) H. crispa

 

[cichlidconvert]

Haddoni for sure. They are solitary and as long as you have the room would do great with your Sps. Also I'm partial to gigs. But I had one walk during it's first week. Neither have moved since.

 

[blackgate]

I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I have a couple of bta's with my mixed Lps and sps tank and have had no problems (knocks on wood). What I have found is that the bta sting is either not very potent, or mine don't fire nematocysts on corals. I had one go plowing through an sps island with absolutely no damage at all. Like I said, I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I love my btas. Wish I could keep a mag though, as they are top shelf for me. Good luck with your decision b/c anemones are the pinnacle of reef keeping in my opinion!

 

[jwoyshnar]

I'm a big fan of LTA's. mine seem to stay put and burrow in the sand

 

[OrionN]

LTA or Malu should be fine in SPS tank with sand. Haddoni will be a risk for fish but not to the coral. Ifyou set up your tank just right for them Magnifica and Gigantea should be fine (gigantea is a risk for fish, as bad as Haddoni)
I never like BTA. They just don't do well in my SPS tank. I have not keep Crispa for any length of time, but they should do OK also.

Happy anemone just don't move around too much. I think my tank have too much light for BTA

 

[marc price]

I have had BTA's stay put and grow to about ~12" - 15" not bothering anything except for a near by Pocilipora that would get swept by bta tentacle swaying with the flow, which would kill the coral tissue. BUT ONCE it divided the clones and or mother BTA would wander and destroy any SPS it came in contact with for more then a quick passing second! When i'd try to move the anemone off a coral it would leave behind dropped tentacles on the coral which i couldn't remove, they'd literally burn them selves into the coral! Nasty stuff!

Never had any trouble with S. haddoni, or H. crispa/H. malu tentacles in contact with SPS.

The S. haddoni at times would sit on a Porities coral for days without doing any damage to the coral. I'd say it's the safest followed by H. malu., H. crispa is good because it doesn't move around but i think it can also be potentially more destructive to corals then haddoni, still no where near as bad as BTA's or Mags.

I suspect the anemones which live in the sand aren't competing with SPS corals so haven't evolved to be destructive to them. For example H. magnifica, E. quadricolor which live on rock are pretty destructive to SPS corals, and probably S. martinessi and gigantea too, i've seen pics of the damage Gary's gig did to surrounding sps.

 

[ca1ore]

I just don't have the touch when it comes to carpets, but a buddy of mine has a Had in his LPS/SPS tank and it has been a model citizen with the corals. Not so good for the fish population though.